Strong showing for M. Golf

The Penn men's golf team played two impressive rounds this weekend at the Princeton Invitational to finish tied for fourth out of 14 teams. Unfortunately for the Quakers, one of the four teams that beat them was the Princeton Tigers. The Red and Blue finished in a tie with Rutgers, with a two day total of 588. Penn State won the meet with a score of 577. The Nittany Lions' Andy Latowski was the individual champion in the Invite. He won a playoff with Rutgers' Kevin Campana. Sophomore Endel Liias led the Quakers with two rounds of 73, which was good enough for 12th overall. Liias believed that his team's strong performance was no fluke. "It was a testament to how hard we worked in the off season," Liias said. "We worked our asses off, and we're extremely confident as a team." Liias added that his team was in good shape for next week's Ivy League Championship. "We're definitely ready," a confident Liias said. Penn senior co-captain Kyle Moran and sophomore Chad Perman played the supporting role nicely this week by shooting four over par for the event. Peyton Wallace posted a six-over par performance, and freshman Adam Squires finished at 13 over par. Wallace, who will be competing in the Ivy League Championship, found it difficult to lose to the Quakers' arch-rival just one week before they must engage in battle once again. "It was pretty disappointing to lose to Princeton," Wallace said. "But we did beat a lot of good teams like St. John's and Seton Hall." According to Wallace, the golf course where the Princeton Invitational was held, Spring Dale Country Club, was very forgiving. It was also the Tigers' home golf course -- a course they obviously knew extremely well. Next week, however, the Quakers face a different type of golf course in the Ivy League Championships in Jackson, N.J. "The course next week will be more demanding in terms of ball striking," Wallace said. Metatock Golf Club is much longer and penalizes errant shots to a larger degree. For Liias, this could pose a problem, who had some difficulties with his long game this week. "Overall, I didn't play awesome," Liias said. "Though I putted really well, I need to work on my tee shots for next week." However, Liias indicated that the team is exactly where it needs to be. He said that the team is starting to click, a sure sign of chemistry. "We're going into the Ivies with a real confidence boost," Liias said. For the Quakers to ride this momentum into next week and be successful, Liias and Wallace must certainly play like they did this weekend. And with a little help from Moran and Perman, the Quaker's might find themselves in the winner's circle at the Ivies.

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